Exemplary embodiments relate generally to assigning a priority to a telephone call, and more particularly to providing called party initiated priority marking.
The Government Emergency Telecommunications Service (GETS) is a White House directed emergency phone service provided by the National Communications System (NCS) in the Cyber Security & Communications Division, National Protection and Programs of the Department of Homeland Security. GETS supports federal, state, local, and tribal government, industry, and non-governmental organization (NGO) personnel in performing their National Security and Emergency Preparedness (NS/EP) missions.
GETS provides emergency access and priority processing in the local and long distance segments of the public switched telephone network (PSTN). GETS is intended to be utilized in emergency or crisis situations when the PSTN is congested and the probability of completing a telephone call over normal or other alternate telecommunication means has significantly decreased. GETS is important because of the increasing reliance on telecommunications. The economic viability and technical feasibility of such advances as nationwide fiber optic networks, high-speed digital switching, and intelligent features have revolutionized the way we communicate. This growth has been accompanied by an increased vulnerability to network congestion and system failures. Although backup systems are in place, disruptions in service can still occur (due to natural disasters, power outages, etc.)
Wireless Priority Service (WPS) is another priority calling capability that greatly increases the probability of telephone call completion when a NS/EP user is unable to complete emergency telephone calls while using their cellular telephone. WPS provides priority for emergency telephone calls through a combination of special cellular network features and the same high probability of completion (HPC) features used by GETS including originating radio channel priority, high probability of completion features, and terminating radio channel priority.
WPS addresses congestion in the local radio access channel (or cell), which is often the reason that cellular telephone calls cannot be made during heavy calling periods or when damage to network infrastructure occurs. WPS automatically provides priority access to local radio channels, placing outgoing WPS telephone calls in queue for the next available channel if a channel is not immediately available. Originating radio channel priority requires WPS feature activation on the calling cellular phone. Outgoing WPS telephone calls do not preempt telephone calls in progress nor do WPS users monopolize all available cellular resources.
The existing NE/SP services (GETS and WPS) described above are calling party oriented mechanisms. In other words, by dialing a designated number, the authorized calling party signals the nature of the telephone call session to the network. The telephone call is then treated appropriately with predefined rules while traversing through the network.